The COVID-19 policymaking under the auspices of parliamentary constitutional review: The case of Finland and its implications.

Abstract

This article explores the dynamic interaction of emergency policies and parliamentary constitutional review in the early policy response to the COVID‐19 outbreak in Finland. A thorough analysis of the official records of Parliament's Constitutional Law Committee shows how the Government's use of delegated emergency powers raised particular concerns about inter‐institutional transparency during the state of emergency. These findings prompt an enquiry into whether delegated emergency powers and the related quest for centralized transparency‐led accountability produced a rupture in the theory of complex multicentric policymaking. This analysis suggests that policy process research can play an important role in exposing the more subtle and longitudinal effects of emergency policies on democratic governance.